I have family there. Eugene is a nice little town. We have gone hiking. We also went salmon fishing on the Mackenzie with a private guide. It was a fantastic time!

Just a little update. We did what we needed to do in Eugene for a few days. We stayed in Salem. Not a very vibrant town. My kid didn't even want to get out and walk around the very small downtown near that Capitol building, but one day we went to Silver Falls State Park, which is inland from Salem. It was fantastic. The waterfalls were incredible. We also spent a day driving to Lincoln City and then hiking to God's Thumb. That was stunning. Lincoln City was very quiet. Beaches not great. Water was intolerably cold, but we'll remember God's Thumb for a while. My 15 year old son said he'd never want to live there. He said, the people are weird and he didn't see one house he would want to live in. Granted there were alot of trailer parks and RV parks and single family farm houses in the middle of nowhere, but I'm sure there are great neighborhoods around there.

Anonymous wrote:We drove from Eugene to Newport on the coast for a night then drove up to Cannon Beach for two nights. From there we continued the drive up the coast to Astoria then back to Portland. In the other direction, we loved Bend and enjoyed a day in Crater Lake. Best to pick one direction or the other. I would vote for the coast.

I think Crater Lake is too much in the southern direction so I think we are looking to spend one day going west to the coast and then the next day going to east. Any recommendations how to spend the time on these days?

We drove from Eugene to Newport on the coast for a night then drove up to Cannon Beach for two nights. From there we continued the drive up the coast to Astoria then back to Portland. In the other direction, we loved Bend and enjoyed a day in Crater Lake. Best to pick one direction or the other. I would vote for the coast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Morning, we will be taking our son to visit the University of Oregon this summer (late June). We plan on being on campus for a day or two, but we'd like to make a little vacation out of it. Maybe 5 days total. Does anyone have some ideas on an itinerary? Is there enough to do in and around Eugene? Do we head to the coast? Do we head inland? Do we head north to Seattle? We are open to flying out of another city. We don't really have a budget. We'd never been to the Pacific NW so we'd love to take advantage of the opportunity. Thank you in advance.

Visit the charcoal plant there. Fascinating. You will never forget the smell either.

You could say the exact same thing about the Sea Lion Caves near Florence!

Anonymous wrote:Good Morning, we will be taking our son to visit the University of Oregon this summer (late June). We plan on being on campus for a day or two, but we'd like to make a little vacation out of it. Maybe 5 days total. Does anyone have some ideas on an itinerary? Is there enough to do in and around Eugene? Do we head to the coast? Do we head inland? Do we head north to Seattle? We are open to flying out of another city. We don't really have a budget. We'd never been to the Pacific NW so we'd love to take advantage of the opportunity. Thank you in advance.

Visit the charcoal plant there. Fascinating. You will never forget the smell either.